Benefits of a custom research panel
Integrating an online research panel or branded community within your business has very tangible and wide ranging benefits that make the business case for having one extremely compelling.
Customer engagement and loyalty benefits
Putting the voice of the customer at the heart of your business
Customers like to feel that they are being ‘listened to’ and many will happily provide feedback in order to make your organisation better. Actually listening to customers and acting upon their feedback can engender greater loyalty and advocacy, however to truly put them at the heart of your business the process cannot be a one way street; the greatest benefit is derived when customers actually see or are told of the changes that you have made as a result of their feedback. This is where real loyalty and advocacy can begin which leads to positive word-of-mouth (WOM).
Research benefits
The research benefits of owning your own panel are widespread and enable the business to derive far greater value from their research budget:
Rapid feedback
Having a group of customers on tap to engage with whenever the need arises enables your business to have access to representative opinion in a far quicker turnaround than achievable by other methods.
Greater Insight
The ability to gather in depth profiles on each customer over time coupled with segmentation data and other customer information, such as the frequency, recency or monetary value of their purchases, enables far greater insight in results analysis without having to annoy the customer by repeatedly asking questions you should really already know about them.
Mixing qualitative and quantitative feedback
Whether inviting your research panel members to interactive online quantitative studies, other methodologies such as phone, mobile, postal, face to face or online Focus Groups/Bulletin Boards, the ability to mix quantitative and qualitative discussion and be able to track who has participated in which study enables the business to carefully manage the feedback it is obtaining whilst maximising the value by selecting the most appropriate methodology for the study.
Cost Effective Research
Certainly there is a cost in setting up a custom research panel properly, and this can sometimes appear negative and make a business nervous about setting one up. However the cost savings that can be derived over a year can be considerable which without the other benefits can be compelling reason enough.
Engagement through interactive studies
Online research surveys can be made to be extremely enagaging to encourage response and participation. Use of media such as audio, video and images enable a far greater level of interaction not possible in phone or postal studies.
Wider business benefits
Integrating research within your business
Many organisations ‘silo’ their research teams and awareness across the business of how they can take advantage of customer feedback can be limited. Research budgets are limited and often research programmes are set in advance in order to prioritise key projects. This can leave some commercial managers having to make decisions without proper basis.
Having a research panel can enhance decision making by enabling key stakeholders across your business to run cost effective pulse checks, concept tests, awareness studies as if having your customers in the ‘room next door’.
In addition this can also raise the profile and importance of the research cycle in the board room and even enable senior executives to gain far more rapid feedback for key decisions that they would have not had access to before.
A custom research panel can be a real business asset and expand your research possibilities; not diminish them.
Building your research panel on good foundations
Despite the benefits there are a number of pitfalls that organisations often stumble into. These can easily be avoided with proper design and management. A research panel built on poor foundations can negate many of the benefits and reduce the return on investment and value that can be derived.
For advice on best practice and how to extract the greatest benefit from your panel, see our free 24 page Research Panel Management Best Practice guide.
